13 hours ago, turnin' two said:

Without fail I have been critical of the move, but at this point  I have to say it.  The Nova acquisition was absolutely worth it.

How this turned into an actual Nova thread I have no idea, but I'm with you. 2 Cubs wins def worth 9 mil. Hoping we make it 18 mil next season 

2 hours ago, mqr said:

He had a couple hiccups early in the year, but his default setting seems to be 6 innings and 4 runs. That's not good, and I'm not going to try to tell you it it, but he's providing what they needed when injuries backed them into a corner, and that's a semi-consistent presence. He's been fine for what he was acquired to do. They gave up a nobody for him, that were we not all super in-tune with the minors because of the rebuild, none of us would have cared one second about. The 9 million is irrelevant.  

Starting next year if the "default" 5th starter is in the mold of Nova that's fine.  He's a 5th starter all you ask is to get through 5 innings and keep the team in it.  For the most part he's done that.  The problem is the other three guys in the rotation not named Nova and Giolito.

Sox should trade this guy to a team from the NL Central for a lotto tix prospect. 

3 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Starting next year if the "default" 5th starter is in the mold of Nova that's fine.  He's a 5th starter all you ask is to get through 5 innings and keep the team in it.  For the most part he's done that.  The problem is the other three guys in the rotation not named Nova and Giolito.

I'd be willing to talk more about Nova or someone like him as a 6th starter. Giolito, Kopech, Cease are all going to be there, they then absolutely need to sign a top-flight pitcher while they have the money and a rotation spot (trading for someone like Greinke is also acceptable). 

Lopez...well, we really should give him another shot, we know he can be better than this, but we need a backup plan, a 6th starter who can start the season in the bullpen and move to the rotation if needed if Lopez struggles. Nova could fill such a role, but there are likely a variety of options who could. If someone like Kopech is on an innings limit during the 2nd half of the season Rodon could be an option for some starts, but he just won't be ready to go early in the year.

3 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Starting next year if the "default" 5th starter is in the mold of Nova that's fine.  He's a 5th starter all you ask is to get through 5 innings and keep the team in it.  For the most part he's done that.  The problem is the other three guys in the rotation not named Nova and Giolito.

Getting through 5 innings and keeping the team in it seems to be the goal of all pitchers now except for the very best.

11 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

Yes, I am a sucker for Cub killers!  Probably more efficient uses of 9 million but the merits of raising the payroll from nothing to slightly more than nothing in a year we’re not even trying to contend is not worth worrying about too much.

Exactly. If you can't win the division win the city.

14 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

He’s filled the 2018 James Shields role just fine. Takes the ball every fifth day and on pace for just under 200 innings and 1 WAR. There’s certainly been worse uses of $9M. If the Sox had a crop of young pitching prospects knocking at the door begging for an MLB opportunity, I’d be more upset with him taking 1 of the 5 spots but they simply don’t right now.

Yeah, honestly... since a horrific start. Nova hasn't been horrible and basically has been what you typically would look for from a 5th starter. The unfortunate aspect of the situation is that he's among a really bad staff. If we had 2 studs and 2 other reliable pitchers. He would be fine to roll out every 5th day. Since the Toronto disaster outing on May 17th, his ERA has dropped nearly 2 full runs and he's been fine. He's given us a chance.